Muslim law can change, says ex-minority committee chief

NEW DELHI: Noted Islamic scholar and former National Commission for Minorities (NCM) chairman Tahir Mahmood has favoured reforms in Muslim personal law, saying Parliament and courts have power to do so.

“It must be clearly understood that Muslim law does not enjoy any special protection under the Constitution of India and is fully at par with all other personal laws,” Mahmood told HT.

“Being part and parcel of the system of Indian family law, Muslim Personal Law is very much within the respective powers and functions of the legislature and the judiciary,” he said.

The Supreme Court had last month said it would test Muslim personal law on the touchstone of constitutional provisions of right to equality, right to nondiscrimination and right to live with dignity to do away with gender bias in it.

Earlier, another bench of the SC had asked the Centre to quickly decide on a uniform civil code to end confusion over personal community laws.

In a survey conducted earlier this year, over 90% of Muslim women rejected triple talaq and polygamy.

Commenting on the Gujarat high court verdict that called for shunning the practice of polygamy, Mahmood said the Islamic law on polygamy was being misused in India.

“The true Quranic law is certainly being misinterpreted by the Muslims and based on their interpretation, unscrupulously misused by non-Muslims. They (non-Muslims) think that by conversion to Islam, even though fake, they get instantly empowered to unconditionally indulge in polygamy,” he said.

Mahmood, however, said: “Instead of embarking on the hazardous journey of citing the Holy Quran and its exegeses, the learned judge (of Gujarat HC) should have made his point by referring to the modern legislation in many Muslim countries under which polygamy has been abolished or severely restricted.”